Minerva Clark Goes to the Dogs by Karen Karbo Page A

said.
    â€œIt’s from nine to noon,” he said. “Downtown.”
    I sighed long and loud and slumped in my chair. It wasn’t as if I had any big ideas about how to find Chelsea’s missing red diamond, but now I would have to waste my morning learning about switches and circuits and whatever.
    â€œThere’s something else,” said Mark Clark.
    â€œWhat?” I said. What could it be? Some new and awful chore?
    â€œIt’s no big deal,” he said. “Mom’s coming home.”
    â€œJust for MC’s birthday,” Quills added quickly. Even though we were all technically MCs in our house—Quills’s real name was Michael—MC was what we called Mark Clark.
    I must have had a weird look on my face, because Mark Clark added, “Not for good. She’s not moving back or anything. Just visiting for a few days.”
    I didn’t know what to think. I took a sip of milk just for something to do. It was nonfat. Yuck yuck
yuck.
There were other kids in our class whose parents were divorced, but I was the only kid who didn’t live with hermom. We all said we wanted Mom to be happy, but we said it too much. We said it all the time. Once, I overheard Morgan and Quills talking about how sucky it was that she’d left while I was still such a kid. It was better to hate them for saying that than to hate her for leaving. I didn’t like being called a kid, is what I told myself.
    â€œMay I be excused to start the dishes?” When I added this part about the dishes the brothers never said I had to sit and wait until everyone was finished eating. I needed to get away and think.
    I took my time unloading the clean dishes from the dishwasher. I made extra sure to put them away with care. Every dinner plate had a chip on the edge from when I hurried, which was most of the time. I had a stomachache, but not from the chicken enchiladas. It was as if someone was inside of me sitting on my guts.
    Normally I loved it when Mom came home. We went shopping, first for underwear and socks and necessary things, then funny T-shirts (last time I got one that said THERE BETTER BE SOME CHEESE AT THE END OF THIS MAZE), CDs, and silly jewelry. That’s how I knew about the cheap rings at Claire’s. My mom loved to go there. She said it made her feel festive. I could just see her trying on a charm bracelet and calling across the store to me, “Minnow, come check these out. Aren’t they cute?” She was the only one who got away with calling meMinnow. But I realized I didn’t want her to call me Minnow anymore. Since I’d last seen her I’d suffered an electric shock and solved a mystery and had my first kiss and I was nobody’s Minnow anymore.
    I looked into the window over the sink. Since the time I was tall enough to do the dinner dishes, I loved to look at my reflection. I thought it was magic, that the window turned into a mirror at night. I stared at myself. Maybe that was the reason I needed to help Chelsea solve the mystery of the missing red diamond. Why I
had
to help her. If I solved another good mystery, I would know for sure that the new Minerva was still around, that my confidence hadn’t worn off. I felt sure of this. But if Mom came home, I wouldn’t be able to slip out and sleuth around. She would want to Do Things Together. All my time would be taken up with bonding.
    Plus, there was also the chance that Mom would like the old insecure Minnow better.
    I went to my room. I tried to IM Reggie, but he had logged off. I tried to call Reggie, but he wasn’t answering. I took out my rebus notebook and wrote ECNALG, backward glance, and felt my spirits lift for the first time since I’d been home.
    I went to bed. It was hot in my room. My stomach had a fist in it from not enough dinner and too much worry. Then I did what I always did to make myself go to sleep these days. I remembered the last dance of theyear, and dancing with